UKC

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fit club is a rich community with posters sharing their goals, noting successes and failures and offering support to those struggling to maintain motivation. Anyone interested in starting is very welcome to join, but to get the most of UKC fit club you should aim to post each week, every week, however little or much you have done. By making such a regular public record of your activities and by restating your goals every week this new habit will hopefully improve your training habits and drive you towards achieving your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

The following training article by Alex Barrows gives an excellent breakdown on training the four main "energy systems" specific to climbing:- http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/training-for-sport-climbi...     also this - https://www.instagram.com/p/CEGfCg7DbkK/?igshid=4a1o55jwpus2

For those wanting to find out more about training for climbing a number of physical training articles are linked here:- http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502

And for those looking for more theoretical background, there's a useful subject index of published research studies on the Beta Angel project. Not sure how actively maintained if is though. https://beta-angel.com/research/research-inventory/

Last weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_734-7334...

Psyche Vid, with apologies to those who don't give a damn about competition bouldering - and to those who do and therefore already watched it yesterday. But just in case that leaves anybody, here's Oriane Bertone on her way to silver in her first ever adult world cup. The next Janja? youtube.com/watch?v=sO7KPBUeDWY&t=11973

AJM - healthy attitude there to bouldering progress-even-if-no-tick, and three more solid sessions. Is the "1 aero fitness session per week" general cardio - jogging, child carrier hiking etc? Or forearm aerocap?

Ally Smith - board progress sounds encouraging. Did the weather allow for any action this week on sport goals?

BarneyLoosemore - another impressively consistent week. If the grades in your profile are anything like up to date, you're moonboarding way above your sport grade and definitely not strength limited. I shudder to think what grade a sport route consisting of six moonboard 6A+'s would be.

biscuit - I hear you on the lockdown hamster wheel - struggling to raise enthusiasm for anything much. Still, it sounds like your determination to get out is still there, the rest will come back at some point.

Liam P - that's a good set of lockdown training results, and finger strength certainly won't be what's stopping you on your trad goals. I don't recall Cameo being pumpy, just a bit of vertical crimping requiring a cool head on on small wires. Although it was a long time ago and vertical crimping came naturally back then when brick edge walls were all we had to train on.

mrchewy - good to hear you got out a couple of times - sounds like you need it if other things were proving challenging.

Ross Barker - what's in the pulley rehab plan (apart from grit bouldering)? Progressive fingerboarding?

Si dH - glad to hear about the lack of finger issues. And the two good boulder ticks - Ned's looks classic

Somerset swede basher - excellent early season result on the 8a!

the sheep - good to hear that you feel able to start stepping up the mileage towards the ultra again. And well done Ms Sheep jnr.

Tom Green - dry tooling definitely doesn't sound like the way forward for elbow health. Hopefully some friendlier weather soon for conventional rock climbing

AlanLittle - some decent progress in the first couple of project sessions. Maybe this will be the year when trying things in the 7's becomes a matter of routine. Perhaps even succeeding on them?

FitClub Grade This (Hypothetical) Route Challenge, following on from my comment to Barney: six moonboard 6A+ benchmarks stacked on top of each other. The closest thing I can think of that looks like a stack of board problems would be something like Vögeln Verboten (IX+) (7c+) in the Frankenjura. Not saying it would necessarily be that hard, but it would certainly be harder than Isolation (7a) (no way is this 7a - bog standard 6c+) at the same crag, which is approximately two "easy" moonboard problems.

STG: Weight back below 85kg. 
    Start Couch To 5k. 
    Last week's project STG: get the third clip on Dookie: DONE
    New Project STG: link from the third clip to the end of the hard climbing on Dookie.
MTG: Complete one of my local (Zellerwand) 7a projects - short, sharp power endurance. Complete Couch to 5k
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: Max hangs plus 40 minutes climbing back onto the shoulder strength & mobility wagon
T: Once again sleet stops play on the playground ARC wall. Rest day
W: Max hangs, l-sits, shoulder press, wrist extensors
T: Bike one hour
F: 30 minutes stretching

S: Zellerwand. Snowing lightly when I left home in the morning: cold, cloudy and starting to drizzle slightly in the afternoon at the crag. Still infinitely better than sitting at home. Did a bunch of easier routes in an attempt to keep moving and get warm, a couple of which were really good even with numb fingers. Then a couple of goes on The Proj in the afternoon. Figured out the third clip - STG tick! Progress. After that there's still another quite tricky and strenuous seqeuence to set up for the last of the hard moves, still don't feel I'm close there. Need either more power endurance or more efficient beta. Easier to acquire the latter. Worked on it a bit, but fading power and increasing dampness in the crucial undercut stopped play. 
    Never had to work nearly this hard on a 7a before but (a) anti-style (b) lockdown. Pleased to be making progress at all. Thinking of heading somewehere else next weekend for a break though.
    
S: One hour bike to "warm up" - not much warmth involved given the weather - then 10 minutes walk-jog intervals without anything breaking. C25k game on.
    Will probably do some stretching & foam rolling later on

Good progress Alan!

This hypothetical route, in your other post - half a dozen moves per moonboard problem? And are there rests between them?

Barney's endurance programme from last week:

So depends how easy the minute traversing on jugs is. Also on the moonboard? Impressive. Those are some pretty spaced hypothetical bolts too.

Attempting to get going again after the December lockdown sapped motivational spirit somewhat.

Tuesday.

Brief visit to  Lawrencefield to meet some old friends. Only the one route led, Excalibur (VS 4c). I thought the start was worth 5a.

Thursday

Christened the North Wales Boudlering book. Tonfedd - highlights were 

•  The Crack (f5)
•  The Flake (f4+)
•  The Groove (f6A)

Pleased to be finding f6As doable now, even if route fitness feels lagging a bit. The Pass was very quiet - didn't see another soul at Wavelength all day, not what I was expecting for "opening week" at all. Hiked up Pen yr Ole Wen and camped near Carnedd Dafydd.

Friday

Walked round the ridge and back down the reservoir road to Llyn Ogwen and the car. Mental note to spend more time in North Wales.

Saturday

Embarrassing faff on Nowanda (HVS 5a) - frustrating because I'm perfectly capable of the moves, maybe the trad head is not quite there yet.

Next Week

• Signed up for another 3 month Lattice session - the last one didn't go well due to lockdown timing - so do benchmark measurements. Not expecting any improvements since December.
• Lakes trip. Christen the Lakes Bouldering book.
• 2 trail runs of at least 8km
• 3 routes from Graham Hoey's HVS->E1 ticklist.
• Revisit my trad goals for this year.

Yeah, whether the jugs are restful or merely easier feels like the key question. If it's 6 40 degree boulder problems interspersed by 40 degree jugs, that's a lot more continuous than if the jugs are vert or slightly overhung and offer actual rest.

Assuming the latter, if only because it feels like the sort of thing you might do as a circuit..... 6 6A+ boulder problems split by good rests - mid 7s?

Very understandable. Glad to see you back again.

Thanks Alan.

M: rest

T: attempted evening board session. Less said the better, I couldn't even do my usual 6C warm-ups. Combination of factors I think.

W: evening - 6 sets of 8/2/8/2/8/2 scap pull-ups on the incut edge with bodyweight, followed by 3x 20 second bent finger hangs  on the 10mm edge with feet on chair.

T: evening hip mobility routine

F:  Afternoon session - 6 sets of 7/3 repeaters at bodyweight on the incut edge, crimpd floor core routine, 3*10 TRX hamstring curls, 3*10 face pull/overhead presses.

S: Short afternoon trip to Pex Hill. Worked the crux dyno on Vitalite a bunch. Hit the top hold a few times but didn't hold it. Then played around on pisa wall traverse with a couple of people I met at the crag. Pumpy.

S: went for a walk in the lakes. My son managed 700 feet of ascent and back down again without any carrying which was a very nice surprise. This evening I'm planning to do another hip mobility routine and some L-sits.

Work was really tough/stressful Monday-Thursday. My son also kept coming in to bed and pushing me out at 2am. I think the fashionable phrase for this is having a high allostatic load..anyway I was knackered in the evenings and found training hard. Sorted things out by Friday and felt much better.

Booked my first trip back to the wall for Tuesday. Planning to start going regularly again for the first time since last February, should be fun!

Si

Thanks. I don't have any excuse really given where I live - hoping to make the most of this dry spell while it lasts. Maybe a chance to visit some of the Peak's more esoteric venues.

I feel your pain! We've had some terrible sleeping this week too.....

Is it a 25 or 40 degree Moonboard?

I'm assuming 40.

Forearm aerocap, is the plan. Base fitness for the dws season. A good week this week - I did miss the aero fitness but got everything else done and got a boulder tick today to boot!

Mon - manic first day back at work; nothing

Tuesday - stretching in a gap between meetings. In the evening, pinch block. Managed to stick another kilo on, so 18.5kg plus the block and pin, and was still just about getting a decent hang on although very at limit.

Wed - “fingerboard” session of mono pickups. Felt pretty strong on 30kg on both index fingers and left middle; 25kg on right middle and both ring fingers. A good session.

Thursday - unplanned rest. The workday got to busy for me to find gaps. And my parents are staying nearby this week so the evening was dedicated to seeing them.

Fri - stretching in a meeting gap in the morning. Then after lunch a quick antagonists session, I didn’t have the video running but qualitatively it felt like some decent tuck planche attempts. I also tried archer pushups at the end - I’m not sure I had it set up quite right but keen to try to figure something out on these since they felt like they hit a different place to the planche so good for variety of antagonist work.

Sat - decent stretching session; otherwise an easy day, loafing in the sun with a short amble round the park

Sun - St Aldhelms with a few friends. Warmed up, got on The Drifter (f7A), a few goes to isolate the best beta, got it ticked! First Font 7 post lockdown, cool few moves. Also tried Dorset 6c (f7B+), got some beta together but wasn’t getting enough from the sloper to get to the pinch... feeling pretty worked between the climbing and the lugging of clutter in and out...

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN0Wie2DtlW/?igshid=1otehher9egw

2021 Arbitrary training goals:

- 1.5-x-5 solidly on the campus board, then 1-x-5 [1.5-3-5 and 1.5-4-5 going well; 1-4-5 also]

- L sit to Tuck Planche on the paralettes as a marker point for having worked on a weakness [need to try to video this soon again]

- 5x5 @95kg, and actually do some stuff on offsets [92kg]

- some progress on a front lever

2021 Climbing goals:

- make use of continued working from home and hopefully greater tolerance of more remote working in future to do some longer hybrid climb/work trips [3 weeks Yorkshire and Lakes in June]

- make the June-June 12 months my best period of bouldering yet (current score 6800, score to beat c7200) [June feels challenging although a rolling 12 months some point this summer feels plausible]

- climb 7c/+ again

- work on my “why haven’t I already” (0% -> 3%) and “harder local things to try” (13% -> 17%) ticklists

- nail at least one of my Portland dws projects, try mark of the beast, and do some more stuff at Swanage and in south Devon.

I’d say you were right in your assessment, somewhere in the 7c to 8a range. 

Cheers Alan. I’ll have to start Brick Wall Training!

I spent the weekend visiting family (and the pub) so only got 4 training days in. 3 of those were at the Wall which was nice to get back to - although the forearm DOMS were intense after a 3 month layoff.

Mon: Strength & AeroCap

• Strength Intervals 6 sets of 3 (V3)
• 1on1off 7 sets of 1min (5b)
• Weighted crunches 4x25

Tue: Strength & AnCap

• Campus Wideboy Ladders: 2x 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. 6x 1-3-5 (couldn’t pull through so will drop to offsets 1-3-4-6-7)
• Broken Redpoint: 3x3 (5b, 6a+, 6c fail)
• Typewriter Pull-ups 3x 4,3,3

Wed: Strength

• HSPU 3x 1,1,0.5 (2” from floor). Disappointed this has dropped off so quickly (after a week break). Need to up the volume.

Thu: Power & AeroCap

• Foot on Campus 6x 1-2-3-4
• 1on1off 5x 1min (6a)
• Typewriter Pull-ups 3x 5,4,3

I’ve got a trip to Wye this weekend so the plan is to finally tick my ‘10x VS leads before Christmas’ STG and baseline my Sports Grade. Also got a tentative plan to tick a couple of soft-touch HVS slabs on the Sunday and ease in to my ‘10x HVS leads in 10 weeks’ goal.

Thanks Alan, I thought so too.  Been out and about enjoying the second weeks of the Easter Hols and the fine weather this week.

Mon. 2nd session on the 8a+, got everything except about 18inches of rock totally wired now but still can't work that one move out. Quick top rope up a 7c bolt to bolt at the end of the session.

Tues. Rest.

Wed. Back on the 8a+, spent ages trying to find a way through the blank bit, eventually found a just about possible method then on my last tie in ticked a hold off and back to square one on that section. Balls. Two quick top ropes bolt to bolt on a different 7c to finish. Skin a total mess and bleeding through the tape by the time I left.

Thurs. Rest.

Fri. 40km hilly Road bike but at a sedate pace with Mrs Swede.

Sat. 12km kiddy bike ride round Carsington Water.

Sun. Skin too bad to pull on the 8a+ holds so went back on the 2 7cs I'd had a play on earlier in the week. 1st tie in bolt to bolt up Big Spider, Small Bath (7c), 2nd tie in successfully redpoint, 3rd tie in bolt to bolt up The Squealer (7c), 4th tie in successfully redpoint. Thought big spider was harder but the squeaker was better. It was fun knowing roughly where there were holds but climbing without really having a sequence and having to work the feet out on the fly. I think those sort of redpoints are my favourite.

Not sure if I'll get back on the 8a+ as I think my partner has ticked most the crag now and probably won't fancy going back. It is only one move I can't work out though... 

Thanks for statting, Alan!

Yes, I intended to start doing no-hangs last week with some weights, but realise I've lost my portable hangboard. Pretty sure it's at Gib Tor, I've made a post and fingers (heh) crossed it turns up.

Had a quiet mid-week due to buying a house and not having a hangboard, but a fun weekend, and ain't that what climbing is all about?

Last Week:

M to F - Sweet, sweet, bugger all. Though maybe moving big boxes counts as rehab? Depends how hard I crimp them.

Sat - Started the day at  Milestone Buttress Boulders, spent a few hours working Tormented Evaporation (V7) but didn't have enough in me to top it out, probably due to general lack of volume recently, and poor endurance to begin with. Moved on to the pit area but it's all mega crimpy, Ping (f7A) caught my eye so I had a crack at that and it was great fun. Both pulley-friendly problems! Eventually moved on to  Maes Newyddion Woods to try Buddha Belly (V7) but unfortunately the last move involved cranking on a RH pocket, so no tick there.

Sun - Kicked it off at RAC Boulders, couple of easier bits, the highlight being Good Little Arête (f6B), with a burly start and balancey finish I'm surprised it doesn't get more attention. Next up was  Gallt yr Ogof Boulder, where I tried to lank the thin slab but couldn't, so had a consolation flash of the soft and fluffy Hat Arete (f6C) (bottom end 6B?), then trekked on over to the cost of living area with very wet feet and got the mega classic The cost of Living (f6A), and another soft flash with Bob Barker's left hook (f6B+). Ended with pizza in Betws-y-Coed, lovely stuff.

Next Week:

Mon - Rest (and consume many birthday sweets)

Tue - Rest

Wed - No-hangs if hangboard allows

Thur - Rest

Fri - Rest

Sat, Sun - Hopefully another good day out or overnighter. The RH on Suavito is all arête hugging, maybe I could finally square that away?

Goals:

Rehabilitate A2 pulley

Suavito

Tierdrop

Rigpa

Thanks again for the stats Alan - a very pertinent question. I got out for the first time after work since sprogglet arrived this week, but just bouldering. Hoping to be a on a rope one evening this week if all goes to plan.

Week 15

M – More gardening club: Scarifying and raking.

T – Yet more scarifying and raking!

W – First evening climb post-sprog; obviously chose some local choss-stone to celebrate. Managed The Ramp Up (f7B+) pretty quick (had failed to commit last summer with a smaller pad and no spotter). Played on a couple of 7C/+ things for an hour before getting stuck into Campusology Low (V8). 20 goes later I finally found the body position and pulled through. With just a few minutes before needing to leave for home, literally ran back to the bottom and pulled on and flashed the 7A traverse link-up. 

T – Nothing

F – Was supposed to be a strength day, but I wasn’t feeling it warming up and hence just did some aero-cap. 10x 1on/1off. Just a hint of returning fitness.

S – Walk around Bollington. 4miles; squiglet made her first hill summit! (Nab Head)

S – Board. Warm-up. Try hard (7C/+ for a bit) then managed to do a couple of the remaining benchmarks, this included the last 7A+ which I’d found impossible with the conventional rollover beta. To paraphrase a popular trad climbing philosophy: When in doubt, lank it out…

Finished with F3SHC (+7.5kg) and B3 (+16kg) 7s hangs; 45s kneebar isometrics in the rest intervals.

Cheers Alan, had a much more active week which is good to report 

Monday, gentle 5k with the eldest

Tuesday, 16.5 km trail run to tick the 10 mile box. will need to consolidate at this distance for a bit as i was knackered afterwards

Wednesday, rest day

Thursday, very nice 40km cycle in the sunshine

Friday, rest day with the high point of the day being my wife receiving her first jab

Saturday, manic day ferrying kids around for various swim and running club evets

Sunday, nice 6.5km run with the wife over the fields

Cheers again Alan! I suppose I've never really done any 'proper' sport climbing before - my experience with it has largely been limited to dossing around on rest days in Chamonix/etc. I'm keen to put some time into actually working routes now though after a winter of training

M - rest, stretches

T - first time back at a climbing gym in a good while! Mainly a volume session - nice to play around on angles other than 40 degrees and see the gains, though climbing with liquid chalk and a face-mask is decidedly not for me so I'll probably stick with the garden board for now

W - rest, stretches

T - scapula activations, 1-arm lock-offs

F - push-up variations

S - Portland! Went with non-climbing friends so not explicitly a bouldering trip, but brought a pad and got some mileage in. So good to be out on rock again! Highlight was probably The Hidden Roof (f5+), which was quite intimidating with an encroaching tide - atmospheric and satisfying!

S - board session. Boulder triples, then a couple of burns on the "route" - managed 7 reps this time. Had intended to do core and shoulder strength/mobility in the evening, but felt pretty worked so gave them a miss

Yeah, I suppose I should clarify - this is on a mini-Moonboard (i.e. 2/3 the height of a full-size MB), so the boulders are pretty short in length. The 1 min rest is not on Moonboard holds (the mini hold set is a bit too fingery for that - might be more feasible on the 2017 set with red holds etc?), but decently sized jugs I've got in place of the Wood A's - i.e. reasonably restful, at least as far as 40 degrees goes. As a route it's probably a bit too discontinuous to resemble a proper sport climb, but I figure a more interesting and specific way of working recovery/etc. than conventional exercises

Even so, if it's all at 40° it's a lot harder than 6c.

Thanks Alan. I got my answer as to what was not quite right as i got ill yesterday. It must have been lurking around for the last week or two. Annoying but not the end of the world. 

It was a pretty quiet week anyway

M - Sport at Gigg North - Ivy Buttress. Never been before, really good. I bailed on my first route feeing rubbish, cold, stiff, tired no psyche. Dropped the grades right down and did a few 6a and 6a+'s and felt much better. Really good, long, routes. Highlights were Drop Test (6b+)which is a brilliant 6b+ and Acid Drop (7a) which is my first 7a onsight of the year. It's very onsightable/a bit soft but i'll take it.

T - Work - no sneaky S&C session before i left as i was tired

W - Work 

T - Board session - better than average but only a short session

F - Put the new Hardwood Holds slopers on the board and 32 new footholds. We've replaced chopped up 15mm campus rung footholds with 10mm Core resin ones. The other 32 we are now going to turn over to their rubbish side. The Core ones have a positive and not so positive side, so that'll be the next step. My masterplan is to have no good footholds anywhere on it. Couldn't muster up the psyche to have a go after putting them on.

S - Nothing 

S - Day of DIY and then nipped to the Shelterstone to get back on Ned's. I have finally figured the move to the lip. I feel both happy and sad that it was a technical solution. Happy that i am strong enough (i was starting to wonder) but a bit annoyed it's taken me this long to figure it out.

I fell off the lip rock over, scraped my shin and had the mat in the wrong place so landed on a rock. I gave up at that point. By the time i got home i was feeling rough and quickly deteriorated from there. Today has been spent in bed.  

Today was supposed to be the start of a new phase. For the second time recently i re-jigged my training to take into account getting out 3 days a week and prioritising what was important. 

I'll just have to take my time and start when i can.

Nice ticks at Kitty's! Bet it's in great nick at the moment with this dry spell.

Hi All. Thanks for the stats, as per usual Alan. Sounds like you had a good week on the project -nice one.

This week was a poor training week, but a good week for getting out in the sunshine -the better choice! Didn't do any scheduled strength work -couldn't really fit it in around climbing days, especially as elbows are still grumbly.

Week 15:

M: Prehab (arms)

T: Trail run: 7.2km, 189m vert, 5:55/km. Prehab (arms).

W: Dry tooling -top roped the new line a couple of times to work out where to put the last two clips. Karl smashed out the FA in fine style. I then fell off on the last clip... tried a couple more goes but wasn't recovering.

T: Hill run: 8.1km, 319m vert, 6:34/km -great techy terrain. Prehab (arms).

F: Dry tooling -cruised up the new route, easy with fresh arms! Great name choice from Karl 'A Dry White Season'. Had a speculative go on the nearby 7b -remembered that I cant climb 7b.

S: Hill run: 7.5km, 383m vert, 7:36/km -steeper hills felt flipping tough.

S: Bouldering at Grinshill -a slightly aimless session after failing to get any higher on Eliminator. Elbows slightly tweaky. However I did find the nicest sandstone holds outside of Northumberland Spring (V1).

Week 16:

Daily prehab

1 x climbing

2 x max hangs

2 x strength (IF ELBOWS ARE BEHAVING retest 2RM Max for pull-ups and weight for max hangs)

3 x run (backing off the weighted ascents for a bit -think I need to toughen up the joints a bit more first).

STG (End Q2):

Max Hang total 85kg

Weighted Pull-up total 88kg

Thug circuit 1-on, 1-off

Eliminator (V4)

Grid Iron (6c)

15 Pembroke E-points (I'm going to be based in Pembroke for work for a chunk of time)

Edale Skyline and/or Cheshire Gritstone Trail

MTG (End Q3):

Yates' Layaway (f6B+) 

Jack the Smuggler (7a)

Black Wall Direct (E2 5c)

Cairngorm Classic Rock IAD, El Cap nose-day (880m climbing) and Welsh 3000s

2021 Goals:

35 E-points

Run 30km vert and 1000km

There was still some seepage and spooge in the pockets - quite comparable to my visit last summer.  Keen to get back there and do some of the link-up problems like Cityless (f7C+).  

That's a common early season phenomenon in the Frankenjura - rock surface looks dry but damp mud lurking in the pockets.

Not that I'll be experiencing it this year

Almost forgot! Thanks Alan

M - Indoors. Easy stuff in boulder room and autobelay.

T - Canoe.

W - Indoors. Easy stuff again.

T - Brownlow. It was a bit hot but had a nice time on my own, ticked a 5C quickly. That felt nice to top out on, like life was getting back to normal. Too hot really tho for grit in the sun.

F - Rest

S - Canoe

S - Family stuff

A really tough weekend but happy with what I'd done during the week and really happy I got out on my own on Thu.

Going slowly slowly to avoid injury.

Hey Alan,

slightly less sneaky but still sneaky...so last fortnight:

• Yoga every day
• Run Stanage end-to-end and back (12k) while snowing...
• run Cornish coastal path Bosi to Sennen - 20k ish
• bouldering Peak benchmarks to see if I can still climb 6A-7A 
• wall session at the Unit
• Demo Route etc at Sennen
• Carn Brea drive by bouldering to 6A+
• walks x 3 (5k-11k)
• Paddle boarding and sea swimming  

Not going to sneak by this time, I'm onto you!

😜